Friday, June 11, 2010

Maybe a bumper sticker. Or maybe...

Sometimes I'm tempted to express myself. To let people know I'm a gardener. And the Internet makes it easy. There are 4 pages of garden bumper stickers at Zazzle.

But then I remember a song that was popular when I was a teenager in Europe, that had the line: "What I think does not fit on a button, even if I really try to narrow it down." Neither do my beliefs fit on a bumper sticker. Yes, I enjoy them on other people's car, but they're not quite subtle enough (O.K. "Have you hugged your Saguaro today?" is great. But we no longer live in Arizona.)

Lost in the Landscape to the rescue. A few weeks ago, James had a post about Short-o-Matic, a website that allows you to design your own board shorts using photos you have. James is a professional and his designs were quite amazing. But I thought I'd give it a try myself.

In this post, I'll show you a few designs, and I'd love to hear what you think. Then I'll have Mr. Mouse buy me a pair for my birthday, and will have a subtle -- or maybe not so subtle -- way of advertising my love of native plants.

The first pair has pictures of Calochortus (fairy lantern) taken recently in Tassajara. I used the mirror facility of Short-o-Matic for this.

A mirrored pair of hummingbird sage. Will the vertical stripes make me look slim? Or will the amount of detail be too much.

I had high hopes for the Tassajara picture with the landscape in the background and the yellow ear drops in front. But it was difficult to put the picture onto the shorts. Still, I love the vibrant colors.

And here's a pair with poppies taken on Garden Tour day 2009.

Well, what do you think? Should I get a pair? Will I have the nerve to wear them? Will they start interesting conversations about native plants?

Fun stuff and pretty cool shorts. I would almost wear them, which is a bigger compliment than it sounds. Though, I'm not sure how they would go with your striped socks. I think James' shorts with the photo of LA were the most wearable, probably followed by the Cal poppies. Cal poppy shorts are a pretty cool concept. Pretty tempting if they came with a Townmouse/Countrymouse logo on them...

Count me in for the Calachortus and/or the ear drops. I think if you ordered a pair, you'd definitely find the nerve to wear them! They're just too cool not to! And I have to disagree with Ryan- if you're going to go this far, you have to go all the way. Stripey socks for sure! And a matching flower tucked behind your ear!